David Fogarty, Reuters 14 Nov 09;
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asia Pacific leaders backed away on Saturday from supporting a global halving of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, even as Brazil pledged deep cuts of its own over the next decade.
An initial draft leaders' statement from an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore had said that "global emissions will need to ... be reduced to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050."
But a later, watered-down version stated: "We believe that global emissions will need to peak over the next few years, and be substantially reduced by 2050, recognizing that the timeframe for peaking will be longer in developing economies."
APEC includes the top two greenhouse gas emitters -- China and the United States -- and its meeting is the last major gathering of global decision-makers before a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in three weeks, meant to ramp up efforts to fight climate change.
Its retreat may further dampen hopes that the Copenhagen meeting can yield a legally binding framework to stave off dangerous levels of global warming that scientists say threaten to bring rising seas and more droughts, heatwaves and floods.
Arguments over targets have been a key stumbling block in U.N. negotiations and at other forums, such as the G8.
BLAME GAME
Developing countries blame wealthy nations for most of mankind's greenhouse gas pollution to date and say the onus should be on them to make major reductions first. Some fear that committing to ambitious targets would choke their economic growth and prevent them catching up with richer states.
The European Union praised Brazil for its pledge on Friday to take its emissions back to 1990s levels by 2020 -- potentially a cut of some 20 percent from the 2.1 million tonnes of greenhouse gases it produced in 2005.
The commitment by Latin America's biggest economy could put pressure on other nations to adopt more aggressive targets.
"This is a potentially decisive step to achieve a global deal in Copenhagen in December and to succeed in the fight against climate change," said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Union's executive arm, the European Commission.
The cuts, which assume annual economic growth of between 4 and 6 percent, would not hamper Brazil's economy, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said.
"Brazil will grow and develop. We will create more green jobs, more efficient jobs, a cleaner energy matrix, more efficient agriculture," he said.
Brazil, among the world's biggest carbon polluters mostly due to deforestation, has become a major player in climate negotiations after years of rejecting such talks and saying the onus was entirely on rich countries to cut emissions.
But APEC's stance is more significant because its 21 members account for some 60 percent of mankind's greenhouse gas pollution.
Yi Xianliang, counsellor at the department of treaty and law at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is negotiating in the climate talks, said the target of a 50 percent global cut in the original draft APEC statement was "very controversial."
This "might have disrupted negotiations," Yi told a news conference, adding the decision to remove the target was a collective decision.
APEC member South Korea gave the U.N. climate talks a small boost by opting for the toughest of three voluntary emission targets, choosing minus four percent from 2005 levels by 2020, a government source told Reuters in Singapore.
The United States and Japan agreed on Friday they would aim to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and back a global goal to halve emissions by mid-century.
Apec leaders drop climate target
BBC News 15 Nov 09;
World leaders meeting in Singapore have said it will not be possible to reach a climate change deal ahead of next month's UN conference in Denmark.
After a two-day Asia-Pacific summit, they vowed to work towards an "ambitious outcome" in Copenhagen.
But the group dropped a target to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which was outlined in an earlier draft.
Leaders also vowed to pursue a new strategy for growth after the world's worst economic crisis in decades.
They resolved to conclude the Doha round of global trade talks in 2010.
In a joint declaration issued at the end of their two-day annual summit, they said: "We firmly reject all forms of protectionism and reaffirm our commitment to keep markets open and refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services."
They also agreed to keep stimulus spending in place until a recovery was seen.
'Staging post'
But leaders have failed to agree a target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum.
Officials said the leaders - including presidents Barack Obama of the US and Hu Jintao of China - now viewed the Copenhagen summit as a "staging post", and not an end point, in the search for a global deal to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.
"We... reaffirm our commitment to tackle the threat of climate change and work towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen," they said in the final declaration.
"Global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will need to be accompanied by measures, including financial assistance and technology transfer to developing economies for their adaptation to the adverse impact of climate change," the declaration said.
A Chinese official involved in the world climate talks said the 50% reduction target was "a very controversial issue in the world community" which could "disrupt the negotiation process".
US Deputy National Security Adviser Mike Froman said the leaders had reached the conclusion that "it was unrealistic to expect a full, internationally legally-binding agreement to be negotiated between now and when Copenhagen starts in 22 days".
This was unwelcome evidence that the gap between developing and developed nations, between rich and poor, East and West can sometimes be hard to bridge, says the BBC's Rachel Harvey in Singapore.
Mr Obama later met his Russian counterpart as the clock ticks for the world's two leading nuclear powers to strike a new arms reduction deal.
The deal is meant to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start I), which expires on 5 December.
After the meeting, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped that "as we agreed earlier... we can finalise the treaty by December".
The two leaders also said they were unhappy with the pace of talks over Iran's nuclear programme.
"We are running out of time with respect to that approach," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama kicked off his week-long Asian tour in Japan on Saturday.
In Tokyo, he pledged Washington's "unshakeable" commitment to the security of the region and said Washington wanted to pursue a policy of "pragmatic cooperation" with China, Asia's rising power.
Following the meeting with Mr Medvedev, Mr Obama will travel to China amid heightened trade tensions between the two countries.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says the face-to-face talks Mr Obama will have with China's President Hu Jintao will offer an opportunity to take the heat out of some of those trade disputes, and to pursue areas of co-operation, such as technology transfer from the US to help China build a so-called green economy.
